Glad Tidings of Great Joy

Hey everyone! We are in Puerto Montt at the moment on our way to Osorno for leadership conference tomorrow. We flew up from Punta Arenas this morning. Don't have a ton of time, but here are a few questions and responses about my new area. I'm loving it here!  Love, Elder Brighton  1.How was your plane trip down to Punta Arenas? What did it feel like to travel alone or did another missionary fly down there with you at the same time? We traveled in a group of 5, 4 Elders and 1 hermana. I was the missionary with the most time in that group. The flight was 2 hours and a handful of minutes long. The airline is pretty similar to Frontier, as in you pay for everything up to your carry on bag. No free on board drinks.  2.It looks like the average temperatures are a bit cooler in Punta Arenas compared to Osorno. Does it feel different there? The weather is much different. They weren't lying when they say how windy it is down here. Thursday was even more so than normal a...

Big news this week- Cambios!!! I am headed to the sector of Austral, in Punta Arenas. The bottom of our mission, the bottom of Chile, and almost the bottom of the world. I am excited to get to see that part of our mission. I will travel there in plane, about a 2 hour flight I believe.  My first (and third) companion, Elder Azeredo is coming to San Pablo to be with Elder Cano. That is crazy but they will get along well. I always get some strange cambios. I will miss San Pablo and the members here. It is a beautiful little town and I have made a lot of memories. I don't know much about my new sector but I will try to include some more details next week! I gave a talk on Sunday about the importance of teaching with and by the Spirit. He is the true teacher, he that brings to the heart the truths that we hear and read. Without him, we can not teach in a way that makes an impact, perhaps we can not teach at all. This principle applies heavily to missionaries, but also to any...

Sorry I don't have much time to write today. We took a little, uhm, detour, coming down a mountain on a trip we had and ended up having to take the later bus to back home. It was a fun trip though and very pretty. Chile is a beautiful country. This week we focused on really having the Spirit with us constantly and doing our best to recognize him. We learn in the scriptures that we can have Him with us always, but I think we have to have that desire too as explained in Doctrine and Covenants.  Love you all, Elder Brighton

We started our new year off well here in San Pablo. We had a couple of really great lessons and taught important principles such as the law of chastity, tithing, baptism, etc. Many people say or think that the commandments we have are restrictions on our freedom, but I know that they are there to bless our lives. The reason for obedience is to make us happy, and so that we can receive blessings!  The principle of sacrifice applies. If we want to receive things, we have to give up other things. To buy, we pay money. The best part is, that with God, the sacrifices we make are so small compared to the things received. We are asked to pay a tenth of our income, and then he gives us everything else we need! We are asked to live the law of chastity, and we can have an eternal family! We are asked to be baptized and endure to the end, and we can enjoy celestial glory forever and eternal life!  These are all what you could call large things, or maybe even "difficult" commandm...